LEARNING CENTER

writing

Create digital writing portfolios

Writing portfolios have long been an effective tool for showcasing a student’s work. Unlike a writer’s notebook, which serves as a collection of working drafts, the portfolio represents a student’s best writing.

In an era when the trusty three-ring binder may not be a practical way to collect, share, and store student work, digital online tools provide an innovative alternative.

Include multiple pieces within digital writing portfolios

Like a traditional paper-based writing portfolio that includes multiple pieces, a document on FigJam can contain up to 20 digital pages. Teachers could organize these into sections based on genres—Persuasive/Argumentative, Informative, Narrative. Or, another organizational option is to label their pieces by the Six Traits of Writing.

If the traits permeated your writing instruction throughout the year, then ask students to identify six products—one that exemplifies each of the traits: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. They could also showcase their single best writing from the year that includes evidence of all of the traits.

Like other online apps, FigJam enables teachers to create a template that can be shared with students for individual customization. When teachers share the link to the FigJam template, students “make a copy” before inserting their own written works. This might include taking photos and uploading images or copying and pasting text from other documents.

Check out our completed example of a digital writing portfolio from a primary student and then download a ready-to-use FigJam template.